 Dear reader,
When we reflect on the enormous pain the ongoing pandemic is inflicting, let’s focus on a population that is particularly vulnerable: our youngest children. And that includes the fragile institutions that support them.
This week, I urge you to take time with two hugely important Hechinger Report stories that explore this traumatic era for America’s littlest learners. As Jackie Mader reports, “Covid-19 exacerbated inequality, plunging families on the brink into poverty and leaving millions of kids without enough food or in housing they couldn’t expect to stay in, not to mention subject to emotional distress from family members’ illness or death.”
At the same time, the pandemic decimated the child-care industry — and the damage is not yet done, reports Sarah Carr. Across the country, about 10 percent of programs — some 20,000 of them — have closed permanently. More than a third of early childhood educators are considering leaving their programs, or the field itself, within the next year, as are some 55 percent who work for minority-owned childcare businesses.
In these politically divisive times, it remains unclear what President Biden’s Build Back Better economic recovery plan will look like, leaving American families largely on their own when it comes to finding — and paying for — child care and early education, Carr reports.
At The Hechinger Report, we believe what happens in early childhood matters enormously for everything that comes next, yet these are issues that aren’t regularly covered. Take time with these two stories and check out all of our early education coverage. And please, remind a friend to sign up for our newsletters, and tell us what is on your mind.
Liz Willen, Editor
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Main Idea
